The term "disposable garments" as used herein refers to those types of articles intended to be worn by persons, including infants and adults, which are designed for single use or temporary use and are meant to be disposed of after being used once instead of being laundered or dry cleaned for re-use. Some examples of disposable garments within this general type are disposable diapers; adult incontinence garments; hospital garments such as surgical gowns, caps and booties or shoe covers; single use garments intended to be worn by patients in a hospital such as disposable pajamas and gowns; and various other types of garments, such as laboratory coats, disposable shower caps, etc. Single use or disposable garments are most usually made of lightweight film or sheet material such as thermoplastic films, nonwoven sheets of thermoplastic or cellulosic fibers, papers, coated films or papers and various composites of one or more of these types of materials. The materials used for disposable garments are distinguishable from textiles that are used to make a sewn garment or article intended for long term use and subject to repeated laundering or drycleaning. Further, disposable garments must generally be manufactured using techniques such as die-cutting, heat sealing, sonic sealing, adhesive bonding, etc., instead of the sewing methods customarily employed to produce textile garments.
Many disposable garments employ some form of elasticized body-encircling opening in order to provide a form-fitting closure with part of a person's body. For example, a disposable diaper will often have elasticized leg openings in order to reduce leakage around an infant's legs, or sometimes an elasticized waist opening; a gown or coat-like disposable garment will often have elasticized wrist openings to provide a snug fit about a person's wrists; disposable booties or shoe covers may have an elasticized ankle encircling portion; and a disposable cap may have an elasticized opening to fit about a person's head.
The prior art techniques of which we are aware most generally used to provide elasticized openings for disposable garments are typified by patents relating to disposable diapers, particularly U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,860,003 (Buell), 4,050,462 (Woon et al., assigned to the assignee of this application), and 4,325,372 (Teed). The disposable diapers of these patents are three-layer composite structures comprising a liquid permeable bodyside liner, a liquid impermeable outer cover and an absorbent batt sandwiched between the liner and the cover. In order to provide elasticized leg openings, a strip of elastomeric material is included in the garments along the portions thereof which define the leg openings. The manner in which the elastomeric strips are incorporated in these garments involves joining the elastomeric strip to one layer of the garment, either the liner or the cover, intermittently bonding portions of one surface of the elastomeric strip to one layer or the other, and spacing the elastomeric strip from the edge of the garment at the leg openings. The techniques of forming elasticized openings in disposable garments disclosed in these patents are also typical of other prior art constructions. These techniques result in a disposable diaper having elasticized leg openings that have a ruffled or gathered appearance. This style of elasticized leg opening, while acceptable for disposable diapers, would be unacceptable or undesirable for various other types of disposable garments; also, elasticized leg openings for disposable diapers having a different appearance than the typical prior art constructions would be advantageous.
We have therefore developed the elasticized form-fitting closures of this invention for use with disposable garments to provide a tailored look to the garments instead of the ruffled or gathered opening typical of prior constructions. This allows the production of disposable garments that have more attractive looking elasticized openings. The construction of the present invention can be employed with disposable diapers for example, but it is also suitable for other types of disposable garments such as panties, gowns, booties, shoe covers and the like, and results in a more presentable appearance that may enhance or increase the use of disposable garments.